Malaysian deputy minister accepts it is difficult to tackle online gambling

Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Datuk Mohd Aziz Jamman has publicly conceded that the country has no effective way at present to completely block online gambling servers. He also acknowledges that the country has no effective mechanism to deal with about 700,000 dubious prepaid mobile phone accounts that may be used for illegal gambling.

The minister, nevertheless, provided the extensive and ongoing efforts to curb illegal online gambling by Malaysian enforcement bodies. He added that new measures are required for enforcement agencies to stop online gambling completely.

“Online gambling servers are located abroad and these are identified by their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses,” he explained. “When the police or the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) block an IP number, gambling operators can change it in a split second.”

Mohd Aziz also told lawmakers that it was difficult for authorities to crack down on online gambling using mobile phone apps.

“It was previously mentioned by the Communications and Multimedia Minister that there are some 700,000 dubious prepaid mobile phone accounts. This makes it hard for authorities to gather information as the gambling operators are operating underground,” he said.

The minister also pointed out the difficulties to prove online gambling when no physical transaction of money takes place. “When they are caught, they say it’s just an online game as no money is involved,” he said, going on to assure lawmakers that the police are currently looking at ways to effectively deal with these problems.